Bates v. State

102 So. 2d 826, 1958 Fla. App. LEXIS 2861
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 2, 1958
DocketNo. 327
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 102 So. 2d 826 (Bates v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bates v. State, 102 So. 2d 826, 1958 Fla. App. LEXIS 2861 (Fla. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

DREW, E. HARRIS, Associate Judge.

Robert L. Bates appeals from an order, judgment and sentence of the Criminal Court of Record of Broward County entered consequent upon a jury verdict of guilty of grand larceny. The subject of the larceny was a pony which was entrusted to him as a bailee.

The statute under which Bates was charged and convicted is Section 811.021, F.S.A., the pertinent portion of which reads as follows:

“(1) A person who, with intent to deprive or defraud the true owner of his property or of the use and benefit thereof, or to appropriate the same to the use of the taker, or of any other person:
* * * * * *
"(b) Having in his possession, custody or control, as a broker, bailee, servant, attorney, agent, employee, clerk, trustee, or officer of any person, association, or corporation, member of co-partnership, pool or joint adventure, or as a person authorized by agreement, or by competent authority, to hold or take such possession, custody, or control, any money, personal thing or action, goods and chattels, evidence of debt, contract, property, or article of value of any kind, appropriates the same to his own use, or that of any other person other than the true owner or person entitled to the benefit thereof; * * *
“(c) * * * steals such property, and is guilty of larceny.
“(2) If the property stolen is of the value of one hundred dollars or more, the offender shall be deemed guilty of grand larceny, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary not exceeding 5 years, or in the county jail not exceeding 12 months, or by fine not exceeding $1,000.00.”

The evidence is conflicting in many respects. On several material points— and particularly on the question of whether the owner sold the pony to Bates — it is wholly irreconcilable. The jury resolved these conflicts and chose to believe, as was its right, that the pony,' after being entrusted to Bates by the owner, was sold by Bates to a third person for $175 and delivered to him with the intention on the part of Bates to permanently deprive or defraud the owner thereof. We think the evidence was clearly susceptible of this conclusion.

Three principal propositions are relied on by Bates for reversal. First, he says the action was barred by Section 932.05, F.S.A., the statute of limitations.

The record shows that the sale was made to the third party on September 15, 1954, whereas the information charging the offense was filed May 17, 1956, well within the two year period. The location or whereabouts of the pony or the date of its delivery to Bates by the owner is of no consequence in the consideration of the question of the statute of limitations. The offense denounced by the state is the unlawful conversion of the pony with intent to deprive the owner thereof. Obviously, so far as the facts in this case are concerned, this took place when Bates sold it to the third party, accepted the payment thereof, and either delivered it or caused it to be delivered to him. There is no merit, therefore, to the first point urged by Bates.

Next, Bates urges that venue was not proven. In the brief and in the argument before this court, attempts are made to bulwark this argument by showing that the pony’s whereabouts were never shown to be in Broward County. Again this is of no consequence. The crime took place when the pony was sold, the purchase price was paid, and title to the pony passed (or was attempted to be passed) to the third party. This took place, according to the record, at 2001 South Andrews Avenue, the location of the third party’s business [828]*828known as Peninsular Supply Co. For the sake of clarity, we quote from the record that part of the testimony relied upon by the state to prove venue.

“Q. Will you state your name and occupation, sir? A. D. D. Oliver, Jr., President, Peninsular Supply Co.
“Q. Peninsular Supply Co. down on South Andrews? A. Yes sir, 2001.
“Q. How long have you been a resident of Broward County? A. Forty-two years.
* * * ‡ * ♦
“Q. Mr. Oliver, calling your attention to on or about September 15th of 1954, did you have the occasion to enter into a business transaction with Mr. Bates? A. Yes sir, I bought a pony for my daughter from him.
“Q. Now where was the purchase of this pony, where was the sale consummated? A. In my office.
“Q. Where is your office? A. 2201 South Andrews, or 2001, pardon me.
"Q. All right sir, now tell us about that transaction, what happened in your office on that day? A. Well Mr. Bates came in, and I had talked to him previously about purchasing this pony for my daughter, first I had asked him to bring some ponies over to East-side School for a Carnival, and he brought this pony over there, and my daughter liked it, and so I talked to him about purchasing the pony at that time, I told him I didn’t want it as a stallion, he agreed to castrate the pony and he came in at this time to complete the deal.
“Q. And was the deal completed in your office? A. Yes, I paid him One Hundred and Seventy Five Dollars for the pony.
“Q. Were there any papers changed hands? A. No sir.”

It is true that venue was not proven by a direct question and answer establishing the place as Broward County. The evidence, however, viewed in the setting in which it was given and weighed in the light of the court’s instruction that to establish guilt the state is required to prove that “the offense, if any offense was committed, was committed in Broward County, Florida,” is clearly sufficient to establish venue under well settled principles of the Supreme Court in such cases as Warrace v.. State, 1891, 27 Fla. 362, 8 So. 748; Low-man v. State, 1920, 80 Fla. 18, 85 So. 166;. Fine v. State, 1943, 153 Fla. 297, 14 So.2d 408; and similar cases. It is said in the Lowman case, supra:

“Where the evidence does not expressly locate the crime as having been committed in the county charged in the indictment, but there are in the evidence references to various localities and landmarks at or near the scene of the crime, known by or probably familiar to the jury, and from which they may have reasonably concluded that the offense was committed in the county alleged, it is sufficient proof of venue.”

and in the Fine case, supra [153 Fla. 297, 14 So.2d 409]:

“ * * * It is true that venue was not established by direct mention of the county and state but there were such references to locality as would lead to the reasonable conclusion that the transactions charged to have been criminal transpired in the place alleged in the information.”

We therefore conclude that there was competent evidence in the record on the basis of which the jury could lawfully find, as it did, that the venue was Broward1 County.

The last proposition urged upon-us for reversal is the failure of the trial court to order certain parts of the evidence re-read to the jury after they had! [829]*829retired to consider their verdict and returned to the courtroom upon a failure to agree on a verdict.

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Bluebook (online)
102 So. 2d 826, 1958 Fla. App. LEXIS 2861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bates-v-state-fladistctapp-1958.